Happy Valentines Day to one and all. Love and Magic are in the air, so let’s see how the gang take on the challenges coming from all this romance…

Wherefore art thou?*

* wherefore means why…

Koume: For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touchKon: Can you say that again in English?

Romance is an odd thing. As we pass from generation to generation, social norms and mores change from one process and set of values to another, and back again, and back again. Now, I’m glossing over 100s of years of history there (if not thousands) but I can make a fine point. Back when he wrote it, Billy Shakeyspear didn’t intend for Romeo & Juliet to become a model for romantic love. It’s quite the opposite, as the play was, still rather is, a reminder to beware all sorts of people that show strong passions for anything – in the case of the play that would be love or hate. It’s the measured approach that has true meaning. These days most folk wouldn’t trust a soul unless they had a billion levels of passion exploding all over the place, but that’s a digression, and again, a glossy overcoat. There are many ways to show love and trust, many ways to show protection and guidance, and all of them are usually measured with love and respect. You know, without the need for all that tragic death stuff.

It’s the measured approach that shows dependability, and that’s what this first of the two chapters this episode was going for, good and dependable Captain Saku. Of course, this being a CGDCTs show, we have to have a lively set of hijinks to get us from point A to point B, and I loved how they hung that on little Undulette-chan. With all the personality that Koume just had to pack into the character, she’s even less experienced in the world and in love than the others; you have to compensate…So, of course she’d help them chase a wild goose. I also love how they pack the solution in the front end. Chiya may be a bit flighty, but she is practical, offering up an honest portrayal of baby-making (that the rest find too embarrassing) and she is able to follow her nose and find the soulmate. Good timing too, as it’s beef stew night. Saku’s favorite! Notice how the other girls just kinda impress surface feelings of what a “soul-mate” is supposed to be onto Saku during the chase? Not our Chiya…

Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, come to me and heed my humble call. Ah, who can forget that show?! A lonely girl that found companionship in new friends. That has quite a bit of resonance to this second part of the episode. The art of this sort of divination can be powerful, so it does come with it’s own special dangers. I think it’s mostly finding out things you wished you didn’t now know, then that realization comes to late. But, it’s Kon’s specialty, and as a result of a (you have to admit, short) lifetime of study – and just a touch of dramatic heartbreak – she knows more than the average student, a plot point that Chiya has to overcome before the show is over. That’s where it all gets fun…

That fun is mainly pronounced with Kon being able to cut loose a bit? While all four girls have their fair share of that sort of needed social restraint, Kon is the one with the most, and maybe has a bit of it misplaced or over-applied. While under possession of the easy to please kitsune-spirit, she’s able to get a bit closer to everyone and beguile them in ways she never thought possible. It’s overdone, of course, because she’s not used to it. Possessed? Well, that’s a likely as an excuse as any, but the other girls reacted in much the same way. Yeah, I know, it was a spirit possession in the show, but metaphorically it means a great deal more, especially in the context of that aforementioned social restraint. We all need to be a bit foxy every now and again, we can’t keep it all hemmed in. Just don’t forget respect…that seems to solve a bunch of problems. I do love how Chiya stands the right ground and demands that Kon be herself – or in the case of kitsunetsuki, she’s fine with Kon the way she is, Chiya doesn’t need anything more. Those two have a fun relationship, and don’t think I forgot how Chiya claimed, during the first half, that in addition to rubbing Kon’s belly, she’d be happy to rub other parts too…

This was quite the fun episode, and aren’t they all? But I love the connections of mutual love and respect being built up with time, trust, and honesty, not tricks and silly notions. I hope they bring the same joie de vivre to Koume and her Witchy Activity…

Next Time

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All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion